1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side body structure of an automotive vehicle, in particular to an improvement of a side body structure in the vicinity of a side sill of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional side body structure of an automotive vehicle is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-41083. In the disclosed structure, a center pillar reinforcement is disposed inside of a center pillar outer panel and both the center pillar reinforcement and the center pillar outer panel are connected at lower end portions thereof with a side sill so as to increase the rigidity of the vehicle body.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-269679 discloses a side body structure of an automotive vehicle where a cross member disposed transeversely is connected with a side sill so as to increase rigidity of the vhicle body.
However the structures disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-41083 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-269679 are still disadvantageous. Namely, it is necessary to reliably prevent the side sill from deforming toward the inside of the vehicle body when the vehicle receives a large lateral load on the side body such as during a collision. The prior art arrangements are unable to satisfy this need. It is therefore still necesarry to provide a side body structure of an automotive vehicle which has sufficient rigidity of the vhicle body.